The State of the Reader: 9/13/17

A weekly post updated every Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and where I am with them in addition to what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list. Title links go to Goodreads to make it easier for interested parties to add any books that might strike their fancy. I attempt to use the covers for the edition I’m reading, and I’ll mention if this is not the case. If you have a Goodreads account feel free to friend me! I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Samples Read This Week

The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey:Kept – Aliens inhabiting babies. This book is singing my song, though I’m quite surprised. The movie previews made it look like a Divergent clone with aliens. I suppose I’ll find out, won’t I?

Angel’s Blood by Nalina Singh: Kept – Angels keeping vampires in thrall. Now that’s an interesting paradigm. I have ideas about angels and vampires myself, so reading a book where they interact seems like a good idea.

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman:Kept – I’m not surprised there’s a book, but I never really did much hunting for it. According to the friend who put it into my mind to add it, it’s not remotely the same as the movie, but both of them are good.

Parasite Eve by Hidaeki Sena: Kept – There wasn’t much question I was going to keep this. I just wanted to make sure the translation was okay, and it is. This is the basis for the video game series of the same name, and it’s also pretty clear that FFVII took some ideas from it.

Despite the flagrant sexism, there’s something both endearing and mysterious about this story. Where did Chi come from? Why was she in the trash? Why is she so drawn to that picture book The City With No People? What did the book mean by “them?” It has to have something to do with her origins. I haven’t quite surpassed where I stopped in the anime, but since manga is cheaper, I’m more than likely to find out through reading 😉

I liked this much more than I thought I would given the “man is jealous” beginning, and I think I can hazard a guess why Mark Helprin decided to call back the title in his own Winter’s Tale, though that very concept is what makes this one of Shakespeare’s problem plays. I’m going to have to research that more before I attempt any kind of review, because I can see how the big reveal at the end could have occurred.

Title: The City of EmberSeries Title: The Book of EmberAuthor: Jeanne DuPrauDate Added: June 28, 2016Date Started: August 30, 2017Date Finished: September 12, 2017Reading Duration: 13 days

Media: eBook/Kindle (Library)

As I was thinking, “Why the hell isn’t this a movie?,” I discovered a cover that said “Now a Major Motion Picture.” If it wasn’t a movie already, I don’t see how they couldn’t resist making it one, since YA novels are ripe fodder for such treatment. I was even able to find a full version of the film on YouTube! The ratings aren’t that high, but I’m going to give it a chance. Also, Ember looks a lot like Midgar in the movie.

Am I wrong??

On the cover above, I think it looks like a skull, which may or may not have been intentional to show that the city is dying.

This novel was wonderful, and I disagree with some of the critiques about over explanations and how Doon was a “flat character.” Since this is geared towards mid-grade even more than YA, additional explanation is understandable and acceptable. Plus, it’s done in such a charming way. It leaves burning, unanswered questions about what happened to make the Builders create Ember in the first place, the most integral one being “What happened 200 years ago that threatened to wipe out humanity?” Was it a nuclear strike? A meteor? It had to be something that would necessitate humanity leaving the earth’s surface due to it being uninhabitable, and it had to be that way for a long time. I don’t know if nuclear fallout would clear out in 200 years (if anyone knows feel free to mention it in the comments!), and I’m only guessing that the dust and ash thrown up by a meteor would dissipate in that time frame ending the long night 😉

I’ll talk more about this in the review, and I have to figure out whether or not my Kindle notes will still remain when I return the book to the library. I’m thinking I should copy them to OneNote just in case.

There’s an ironic poetry to a boy named Light having the power over life and death, and a destitute nihilism that the death god only dropped his Death Note due to boredom, and Light only wields death for the same. With that said, I know exactly whose names I’d put in the book, and no I’m not going to say them here!

The werewolf lore Briggs uses makes them automatic misogynists, and I don’t blame Mercy for hightailing it out of there as soon as she could, though there was a major catalyst for her egress. I do kind of hate the fact that none of the women like her. It’s not her fault, and it seems unnecessarily catty…which is not wolflike at all

I finished reading the chapters on the historical hands Bloodraven and Baelor in addition to the ones on Tywin Lannister, Jon Arryn, and Eddard Stark. Attewell’s opinion of Ned’s Handship has much less to do with his “honorable failure” and more to with how he didn’t use his position to the extent of its authority, thinking he was only there to serve as Robert’s friend and advisor. That makes so much more sense and removes the unfair pall over the idea of honor and Handship. They can coexist, and while Ned’s honor did play some part in his downfall (e.g. threatening to reveal the devious queen’s indiscretions to the king while the king is out hunting and vulnerable without the plan to do so being in motion and/or a backup was not a wise move), it wasn’t the entire story.

Next up is Tyrion, and I’m anxious to see what Attewell has to say about my favorite character. Note favorite doesn’t mean I think he’s infallible. That’s just silly.

The book has gotten more interesting since the main female character Martise discovered her gift, but it’s still definitely the slowest of the works I’ve read by Draven. She is doing a great job laying the sexual tension on thick. I just want them to fuck already lol.

More and more of the mystery is revealed as this book goes along. There are now two major points of view the narrative bounces back between: Lazlo and another that would be too spoilerish to reveal. Once more I wish I had more time and less tiredness to fully immerse myself in this for days on end.

I added this due to the comparison with a book I added last week, Girls Made of Snow and Glass. The blurb on that invoked both this and Frozen. I’ve seen Frozen numerous times (and I really need to read The Snow Queen), but The Bloody Chamber is new to me. I’d say it’s a dark retelling of popular fairy tales, but fairy tales were always dark to begin with.

Another book brought to my attention by a prior book. This time Attewell’s Hands, Kings & City-States, which I’m currently reading. He talks about Machiavelli and Machiavellian statesmen, and though I’ve obviously heard of Machiavelli, I’ve never read him, and I need to remedy that. Note this is the second book I’ve recently added entitled The Art of War. The other is by Sun Tzu. I’ll be a brilliant general once I read them, won’t I? 😉

If you’ve spent any time on the internet, you should recognize the little doodly person on the cover of this book. If you’ve been to the writer’s website, you might also recognize the dog. I think that’s the “simple dog,” but I could be wrong. Anyway, I had no clue she’d written and published a book, but I’m ecstatic that I found out about this from my good friend C and M. I can relate to a lot of Borsh’s points of view, and I love the way she talks about her experiences.

Even though this wasn’t technically recommended by anyone, I did think of the idea while doing the I Dare You Book Tag from Ignited Moth. Question 17 asks if there’s a book that’s made you hungry, and I only had one answer to that. Then I remembered that the gods smiled upon the world and gave us the gift of The Redwall Cookbook with actually recipes, which means everything the good creatures of the Abbey were eating was totally real! Granted I knew about this cookbook for a while, but I’m glad I was reminded and added it to my list.

Read and add. I’m debating whether or not I’m going to buy this or borrow it from the library. If I already own a book in a series, I prefer to continue adding to the collection, but of course the library would be cheaper.

Title: The People of SparksSeries Title: Book of EmberAuthor: Jeanne DuPrauDate Added: September 12, 2017Recommended By: N/A

I want to know what happens to the people of Ember and how there were people living above ground before they emerged. My theory is that there was more than one city like Ember, and the underground initiative was worldwide or at least in places that would be affected by the disaster. These other places had better mayors or other officials who kept up with the secrets passed own so when their boxes opened with the instructions, they were prepared and reclaimed the surface at the appointed time.

I would’ve had this already, but even digital copies are in limited supply at the library, so I’m waiting for my notification that it’s available. I really want to know what happens next.

25 thoughts on “The State of the Reader: 9/13/17”

That IS simple dog. 🙂
The werewolves in Moon Called are definitely sexist, it gets a little better as the series goes but a lot of the time Mercy to just throwing up middle fingers are everyone lol. I think I really relate to her because I had a problem making any true actual girl friends in high school (and still). Ignited Moth has been my ride or die bitch for 21 years now because she’s not like most girls.

I don’t freaking blame her. The reason the women hate her has that mean girls vibe to it. I get WHY, but it’s not something she can help and just seems petty and childish on their part. I just got past the part where Bran talks to her about Samuel and she runs into that doctor she used to know. I love how shit just randomly goes down in a chapter.

If you just heard a distant scream, that was me expressing my delight that you’re going to read The Luster of Lost Things! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE it?! I seriously meant it when I said in my review that if I were rich I’d be leaving copies in public places in hopes people would pick them up. Although there are there’s a few months left in the year, I do believe this will be my favorite read of 2017!😊

Wow! Ember does look A LOT like Midgar. And – “it seems unnecessarily catty…which is not wolflike at all” made me laugh uncontrollably 😂

I’m wrapping up your friend’s novel Waking for Winter now. Normally I HATE romance novels, but I love this entire series! It’s just so entertaining and witty. The main character in Waking for Winter is suffering from PTSD and your friend writes that really well!

After that I’m going to jump back into the Goddess of Wisdom’s Dragon Age novel. I just beat the main story of Origins last weekend so I’m ready to fully appreciate this book’s awesomeness. And yeah, the Fade is a really bad trip, that’s for sure…

As soon as you mentioned LOTR feel, I am interested in James Islington’s novel.
Don’t give up on Embassytown. It takes few chapters for things to get interesting. I loved that novel as the ideas were pretty fresh.
I have City of Ember on my TBR. Will push it up since it sounds really interesting.

Great post! 🙂 I’m really interested to see what you think of The Fifth Wave when you read it. I watched the movie and was very “meh” about it, but as we both know, the books are usually better anyway! 🙂
Wow, I had no idea Parasite Eve was a book! :O
I just recently started watching the Death Note anime and I’m really enjoying it so far. Everything is so intricately thought out and I love the Shinigami! 🙂
I’ve had The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories on my dang TBR list for what feels like an eternity now and I can never find it anywhere. I need to suck it up and just order it off line or something. lol
Haha and I love that you added the Redwall cook book to your list! 🙂 I bet it is adorable and has some awesome recipes in it.

It seems like it’s a typical YA dystopian movie. There was just an explosion of them since Hunger Games.

I forget where I heard Parasite Eve was a book, but I was so excited when I heard it was! The game came out before FFVII and VII has quite a lot of the same motifs from PE, so I’m thinking they pulled from that! Death Note is freaking awesome so far. Like it’s weird because usually you’re afraid for the protagonist, but I can’t say I’d be THAT upset if Light were caught by L (and it’s interesting that they have the same beginning letter hmmmm).

Omg, yes, I agree wholeheartedly about Light from Death Note. The character dynamics in that series are extremely interesting so far. Haha and I thought the same thing about Light and L having that same first letter in their name. 😛